Readers’ wildlife photos

Reader Paul Peed, whose are available at Instagram and eBird, sent us some photos of a raptor we don’t see often here: the snail kite. His notes are indented. (Note the curved and asymmetrical beak in the penultimate photo.)

Female Snail Kites are only slightly larger than males but they can easily be sexed by color although it is difficult to separate juveniles from female adults as they have nearly the same coloration.

Female Snail Kite

Degradation of habitat in the Snail Kite’s previously productive areas has resulted in endangered species status for this Kite. Wetlands degradation has impacted the Apple Snail population with foreseeable results on the Snail Kite.

Male Snail Kite

Note the identification bands on the male and female images. Because the Snail Kite is a system-wide indicator species, they are carefully captured, banded and tracked.

Amateur citizen scientists and professionals have noticed Snail Kites preying on Black Crappies and crayfish when snail populations are low. The bird’s curved beak is slightly off-center to allow it to easily extract the snail from its spiraled shell This modification will (I assume) limit alternative prey.

There was some discussion a few years ago about the effects of non-native snails in Florida lakes. The snails were larger than the usual snail kite’s prey which hindered their ability to hold them in order to extract them. The biggest effects were seen with the juvenile kites who, being less experienced, dropped them more often, So they were unable to eat as much as they needed. I wonder whether this might drive behavioral or morphological adaptations and eventually evolution in the snail kites.

The first time I visited Paraguay was in September, ’92. That was a flood year. The lower Chaco was flooded for at least 150 km from the Rio Paraguay. There was a Snail Kite on the wire between most pairs of utility poles along the Trans-Chaco highway from near the river to the end of the marshes.